In 2011, a Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, proposed that schools fire janitors and instead pay the students to clean the schools. At the time, his words were met with disagreement and, in some cases, outrage.

A columnist, Timothy Christopher, rebutted Gingrich’s suggestion by stating, “Surely we can all agree that kids aren’t failing in school because they lack the opportunity to clean toilets.”

Needless to say, based on the upset reactions and the fact that some Americans don’t even know who Newt Gingrich is, it is easy to conclude that his proposal was quickly denied.

Four years later, however, schools in Oregon and Tennessee are now doing what Newt Gingrich had originally suggested: they are designating time during the day where students are expected to clean the schools. The difference is that having students simply clean up after themselves aims to teach them respect and care and prepares them for the real world; it’s not just a maneuver to get low class kids out of poverty. Having all students take time to clean their school a few days a week is considered part of their education and personal growth.

Armadillo Technical Institute, a public charter school in Oregon, now assigns its students thirty minutes of cleanup after lunch. Kim De Costa, the executive director of the school, said, “We really wanted a school where the kids took ownership and made it their own.”

While this development is fairly new to the United States, it is a common practice in Japan where school is not only meant to teach children subjects out of a book, but also to help them become active members of society. 

Much of the debate centered on this idea in 2011 pertained to child labor laws. Gingrich did not agree with the laws, arguing that most successful people started working between the ages of nine and 14. They learned the meaning of hard work and understood making money at a young age, thus making them more successful later in life.

Another argument has been that making the students clean takes away from their time spent learning in the classroom. However, many parents of students at Armadillo Technical institute in Oregon as well as parents at Brentwood Academy outside of Nashville, Tennessee are supportive of the added duties that their children have at school.

What it comes down to is: do you believe that expecting children to clean up after themselves is violating child labor laws, or do you believe that it is a beneficial habit for successful human beings?

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References: 

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ed/2015/04/04/396621542/without-janitors-students-are-in-charge-of-keeping-school-shipshape

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/21/newt-gingrich-says-schools-should-use-students-as-janitors_n_1105288.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68729.html

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Author: Amanda Reed

Editor: Caroline Beaton

Photo: Courtesy of the author

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